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[Food] Favourite/ least favourite tv/celeb Chef ?



Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,627
The Fatherland
I really can't stand "professional northerner" james martin, and now that I know he's thoroughly unpleasant I like less. The hairy bikers seem pleasant enough but really aren't cooks. For all of his lad persona Oliver is a good chef. My own faves, sadly very little seen on TV but celebs nonetheless are Sean Brock & April Bloomfield
Good shout for Bloomfield. The Spotted Pig was one of my favourite restaurants until it closed amidst dodgy goings on.
 




Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,627
The Fatherland
Saw her once in Borough market. Once she’s out of the TV makeup she’s rough as f***.
Even better.
 




Herr Tubthumper

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Jul 11, 2003
62,627
The Fatherland
One book I return to a lot is Jack Monroe’s A Year In A 100 Recipes. It’s perfect for tasty quick meals when you don’t have much time or energy. I have cooked her puttanesca dish many times.
 


vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
28,267
On to your topic: I like Yotam's recipes, they work well and don't tend to take as long or be as difficult as most think. And not on TV but, if you don't know her, Rachel Roddy is another treasure, and the recipes are wonderful.
But where do you get that 'ndga stuff ? It's the weird stuff that cheeses me off...I actually have ramped up my home grown Chilli plants to include Ancho's, Pasarilla and Guaillio's but some ingredients are almost impossible to source...and that is what really pisses me off !
 




Machiavelli

Well-known member
Oct 11, 2013
17,752
Fiveways
But where do you get that 'ndga stuff ? It's the weird stuff that cheeses me off...I actually have ramped up my home grown Chilli plants to include Ancho's, Pasarilla and Guaillio's but some ingredients are almost impossible to source...and that is what really pisses me off !
I don't tend to try a recipe if I don't have the ingredient, although will substitute at times. Kudos to you and chapeau to Yotam for your expanding chilli connection: you know it makes sense.
 




Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,823
Uffern
But where do you get that 'ndga stuff ? It's the weird stuff that cheeses me off...

'Nduja is not difficult to find. all the big supermarkets stock it. I'm a vegetarian so I don't use it myself but it's not that obscure.

I don't find many TV chefs are that veggie friendly so I rarely watch cookery programmes. But it's interesting reading about Keith Floyd: I thought his drinking was a bit of an act until I was at a breakfast event with him and saw him knocking it back at 8.30 in the morning.

But Floyd was an amateur compared to Raymond Oliver, take a look at his pancake recipe. Try explaining to the cop that you'd not been drinking but had just been eating crepes (this is in French but it's perfectly understandable),

 




vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
28,267
I don't tend to try a recipe if I don't have the ingredient, although will substitute at times. Kudos to you and chapeau to Yotam for your expanding chilli connection: you know it makes sense.
I started growing the rarer chillies after seeing Rick Steins The Road to Mexico...his stuff is not
too complicated but does need a degree of " local " ingredients.. luckily, I can grow Chillies although getting some of the seeds was hard work.
 


vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
28,267
'Nduja is not difficult to find. all the big supermarkets stock it. I'm a vegetarian so I don't use it myself but it's not that obscure.

I don't find many TV chefs are that veggie friendly so I rarely watch cookery programmes. But it's interesting reading about Keith Floyd: I thought his drinking was a bit of an act until I was at a breakfast event with him and saw him knocking it back at 8.30 in the morning.

But Floyd was an amateur compared to Raymond Oliver, take a look at his pancake recipe. Try explaining to the cop that you'd not been drinking but had just been eating crepes (this is in French but it's perfectly understandable),


Thanks for that, where in a supermarket do you find 'Nduja, what section does it come under ? What is it near ? Cheers
 


Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,823
Uffern




Questions

Habitual User
Oct 18, 2006
25,490
Worthing
I think of Delia and Jamie Oliver as chefs/bakers who’ve never claimed to have a classic training, almost self taught, who’ve brought practical cooking to the hoi polloi.

Ronay, Worrall Thompson and Rhodes all mocked Delia in the past. Snobs.
I’ve eaten a few times at The River cafe in Hammersmith … Excellant grub and I’m sure Jamie Oliver was sous chef there.
 


kojak

Well-known member
Jan 17, 2022
825
But it's interesting reading about Keith Floyd: I thought his drinking was a bit of an act until I was at a breakfast event with him and saw him knocking it back at 8.30 in the morning.

I worked in France some 20 years ago
My first job was in a restaurant
The chef was knocking back the red stuff at 6.30
And no one battered an eye lid
 


Sep 17, 2012
32
Gordan is the most talented, but understand he is not everyone’s cuppa tea, but Tom Kerridge is the best for me.
Jamie and Nadiya are just manufactured for TV.
 




Weststander

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2011
69,206
Withdean area
I’ve eaten a few times at The River cafe in Hammersmith … Excellant grub and I’m sure Jamie Oliver was sous chef there.

I liked his Italian chain, lovely food.

He attracted a lot of hate from fat parents and right wing ‘libertarians’ (happy to have obese kids) when he dared to improve school grub.
 


WATFORD zero

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 10, 2003
27,718
Maybe it's just me, but isn't the whole concept of watching someone on TV cook something that you can't smell or taste just a little bit strange :wink:
 








CheeseRolls

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jan 27, 2009
6,224
Shoreham Beach
I think there have been numerous top quality TV Chefs over the years, it just seems that right now very few of them are making any programmes.

Mary Berry ? Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear and people say Nigella is not authentic!
John Torrode and James Martin can both do one.
Nadiya is cleraly a talented baker, but some of her family meal recipes are just terrible.

One who is suprisingly both informative and entertaining is Gok Wan.
 


HeaviestTed

I’m eating
NSC Patron
Mar 23, 2023
2,117
Maybe we could have a thread where people post their favourite simple recipes (with thread rules on max no. of ingredients or prepare time). I'd like to be better at cooking simple food.
My entry:

Toast a la HT:

Put a slice of bread in toaster.
Remove when toasted.
Eat.
 


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